Animal Instincts
by WildSpirit-Forever
Summary: Rocket protects Gamora


Gamora fell to the ground and scrambled back. As one of the creatures jumped at her, she managed to kick it away from her. But the creature only flew back a few feet and immediately got back up, stalking towards her while the other two did the same.

She backed away until she hit the wall behind her, making it impossible for her to get away. The three creatures cut off any other escape, their large fangs bared and their four sickly white eyes trained on her every movement.

Gamora glanced to a spot behind one of the creatures where her sword laid on the ground, one of the creatures quickly having taking it away from her hands and leaving her defenseless. She had left any other weapon at the Milano and she now cursed her stupidity.

The three creatures, looking much like large felines with ruffled dirty coats of fur, hissed at her and walked closer, their long ears twitching on top of their heads. Large claws scraped at the ground as they walked on three toed paws, their long spear-like tails swinging behind them.

Gamora pressed herself against the wall, able to smell their foul breath as they came closer. She tried to come up with a plan, a way for her to escape, but her mind drew blank. The creatures were faster than her and even more agile, they would have slit her throat before she even could have begin to move.

The largest of the three creatures growled deep from within its large chest and took a step forward, no question to go in for the kill. Gamora stared at it when she heard a snarl, a snarl that didn't belong to either of the three creatures.

A brown form leapt over the creature and landed between Gamora and it, fangs bared in anger. Gamora stared as Rocket stood on all fours with his back arched, his tail frizzled. His eyes were dark with anger and he snarled, easily matching the creatures'.

The three creatures stopped at the sudden entrance of the raccoon, all of them taken by surprise. Gamora stared as her friend snapped his teeth in anger, warning the creatures to come any closer. His claws dug into the ground and his fangs gleamed in the weak sunlight of the planet's sun.

While he was much smaller than the three creatures, Gamora knew Rocket was deadly, with or without his hand-built weapons. He had once told them that he had built-in weapons, which he had used to fight with for all his life.

Gamora knew this was true and she knew Rocket knew how to use them. She had once seen Rocket's fangs pierce through the tough skin of Drax when the man had tried to wake up the raccoon from a nightmare. Those fangs had gone through the Destroyer's skin as if it had been paper.

She was taken from her thoughts as a large snarl rang out, the largest of the creatures taking a step towards her. But Rocket quickly put himself between, growling at the feline. His tail rose and his ears folded back as he let out another snarl and to Gamora's surprise, the creature actually took a step back.

Rocket let out a angry huff and turned his body so he stood with his side towards the creature, his tail swinging dangerously back and forth. His eyes never left the creatures, his pupils dilated. His whole body was stiff, as if he was prepared to move at any give second.

Gamora then made the mistake to move. She had only just made the move to push herself up when the largest creature leapt forward. Gamora had no time to move as it came towards her but as it flew over him, Rocket pushed himself off the ground and sunk his fangs into the creature's throat.

The feline let out a strangled cry and lost it balance at it came to touch the ground, sending them both crashing into the wall by Gamora's right. The feline creature stood up and shook its head, trying to get the raccoon off. But Rocket only bit down harder and planted his claws into the flesh of the creature's neck.

Gamora stared as Rocket put his right foot on the creature's shoulder and snapped his head to the side, effectually forcing the creature's head to the side and breaking its neck. The beast fell to the ground and Rocket climbed so he stood on top of it on all fours. He snarled at the other two creatures as green blood dripped from his bared fangs.

Gamora had never seen Rocket look so wild, so much like a enrage animal. He always made it know that he wasn't just some filthy mindless animal and they all knew he was far from it. But the fact was that he was still an animal with animal instincts, even he had admitted that at one point. And he had once told them that one of those instincts was stronger than all others.

Protect the pack.

Gamora's eyes widened as he realized that was what Rocket was doing. He was protecting a member of his pack. She knew he didn't trust easily, so for him to consider her as his pack member, Gamora felt honored.

The other two creatures let out a low whine over their dead comrade. They walked back and forth, as if they were unsure of what they would do. Rocket followed them, never once taking his eyes off them. His body was still stiff and he kept his fangs bared in warning.

As one of the creatures took a step forward, Rocket stamped the ground hard with his left hand and snapped his teeth, causing the feline to stop. The raccoon lashed out with a snarl and swung his hand around, the two creatures immediately stepping back.

Rocket took a step forward and gave short bark, the sound sharp and threatening. His tail swiped across the ground, bringing up dust and small rocks, which hit the creatures' faces. The felines each let a whine and stumbled back, Rocket's snarl making their tails slip between their back legs.

Gamora dared not to move, but her eyes were moving rapidly between Rocket and two remaining creatures. She knew if she did anything the felines would attack and that was something she didn't dare to risk, neither for her and Rocket's safety. She would have to trust that Rocket could handle what was going on.

She planted her sight on one of the two remaining creatures, the one with a darker coat, as it let out a furious snarl. Her eyes widened slightly with fear as she realized what it actually meant. It wasn't a sign of submission, it was a warning. The creature was going to attack.

Rocket understood that was well and he answered the warning with his own. He let out a snarl from deep within his chest with his fangs still covered in green blood. His message was clear.

Leave or die.

The creature hesitated for a moment and Gamora dared to hope that the feline would take the offer to walk away. But her hope faltered as the creature let out a snarl and a second later the feline leapt forward, claws extended and fangs bared.

But to Gamora's worry this time it wasn't going after her, it was going after Rocket.

Rocket jumped back as the creature hit the ground, large claws digging into the ground where he had just stood. Making sure not to give the feline a chance to make another attack, he jumped towards the creature's head and once he was close enough, he sunk his fangs into the flesh of the head.

The creature let out a painful cry and whirled around, trying to shake the raccoon off. But Rocket only dug his fangs deeper into the flesh and kicked out with his left feet, claws making four deep gashes in the creature's cheek. He then clawed the feline across the right ear, tearing away stripes of flesh completely.

The creature spun around quickly which caused Rocket to cling on tighter, but this made him miss the large paw coming towards him. The only warning he got was Gamora screaming his name with a fearful voice and that warning came too late.

He felt his skin rip apart as the large claws dug into his side and he let out a scream, which caused him to let go. He was thrown to the ground and skidded upon it, but came to a stop as he dug his claws into the dirt below him. He pushed himself back up and stumbled forward, blood dripping from the large wound.

He drew a shuddering breath and slowly raised his head, a gasp escaping Gamora's lips as she saw her friend. A large gash bleed furiously on the right side of his head, blinding his eye with blood. His left one burned with rage, showing that even thought he was injured he wasn't willing to give up.

The creature hissed towards him but Rocket ignored its threat, instead rushing forward. He left the creature no chance to react and leapt into the air once again. As he landed on the feline's back he bit down on its neck, letting his instincts take over. And those instincts told him one thing.

Fight or die.

His fangs easily cut through the creature's flesh, reaching the bone of the neck. The feline cried out, but Rocket ignored it. He let go of the neck and leaned forward, closing his fangs around the creature's left eye. The feline let out a strangled sound and rushed forward, trashing about.

Rocket looked up and immediately leapt off the creature, landing on the ground just as the feline rushed headfirst into a wall of ragged stone. The creature fell to the ground, skull cracked open and eyes empty.

Rocket let out a huff and turned around, smirking cruelly towards the last of the creatures. It was pacing nervously, crying out for its fallen pack members. But Rocket didn't care and he knew it wasn't long before it would attack, before it would act out for revenge.

As he took a step forward, he let out a pained hiss as his side stung. He glanced towards the wound, cursing to himself. He was losing blood, too much too quickly. He wouldn't be able to fight for much longer and what was worse, if he lost too much, he would bleed to death.

A snarl snapped him out of his thoughts and he threw himself to the side, barley avoiding the large claws. He skid upon the ground and spun around, lashing out blindly. His claws hit their mark however and tore through flesh.

The creature lost its footing and fell to the ground, deep gashes running across its front legs. It began to push itself up and Rocket spun around to face it, but faltered as pain from his wound wracked his whole body. He grit his teeth and dug his claws into the ground.

He looked up and cursed as he saw the creature was nearly back on it paws. If he was going to end this, he needed to do something now. But his strength was gone, he had lost too much blood already.

He winced as he hit the ground, the large paw holding him down. The claws dug into his chest, immediately drawing blood. As he looked up, he was met by large fangs coming down to close around his throat. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain.

But the pain never came.

Instead there was a gurgling sound and as Rocket's eyes snapped open, he was met by the sight of a certain sword sticking out from the creature's chest. Holding that very sword was Gamora, the green skinned woman breathing rapidly as her hands shook.

With a swift movement she pulled the sword from the creature and kicked it aside, the dead body falling to the ground. She took a deep breath and then knelt down by Rocket's side, taking in his injuries with a worried expression. Rocket gave a short wet laugh and smirked, a small line of red blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"What's with the concern, greenie?" He let out another cough. "I have been through worse."

Gamora's eyes narrowed, but the concern remained. She gathered him up in her arms, frowning as the raccoon winced at being moved. Rocket gave the woman a weak glare for carrying him but stayed quiet, too tried to complain.

This only caused Gamora more worry and he found herself waling quickly, trying to remember the way back to the Milano. No matter what Rocket said, he was in need of medical attention. And after everything he had done for her, how could she not return the favor?

"How are you feeling, Rocket?"

Said raccoon scoffed, but it quickly turned into a coughing fit and his hand moved to clutch his side.

"I-I'm fi-fine."

Gamora didn't believe him, but said nothing about it.

"Why did you do it?" Gamora asked quietly. "Why did you save me?"

Rocket looked up at the woman with surprised eyes and then looked down, ears folding back. When he spoke, it was quietly.

"...how could I not?" He smiled softly. "We're family now and family protects each other. Besides, you would have done the same for me."

Gamora smiled, knowing that Rocket was right. After all, family protects each other, no matter what.


End file.
